Reversible winder for strip film



Dec. 16, 3952 H, s lT 2,621,864

REVERSIBLE WINDER FOR STRIP FILM Filed Jan. 21, 1947 2 SHEETSSHEET l lNVENTOR. fia/e G. Jm/fh. BY M I Y- ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 16, 1952 H. (5. SMITH 2,621,864 REVERSIBLE WINDER FOR STRIP FILM Filed Jan. 21, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 a3; 10/8 GJm/fh.

BY My ATTORNE s.

Patented Dec. 16, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REVERSIBLE WINDER FOR STRIP FILM Hale G. Smith, Rockville Centre, N. Y., assignor to Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation, Jamaica, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application January 21, 1947, Serial No. 723,329

8 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for winding exposed strip film back and forth between two reels submerged in a processing bath.

In the processing of substantial lengths of strip film, for example, 50 or 100 foot or more reels of motion picture film, apparatus has been available for mounting full and empty reels in a developer or fixer tank with mechanism for rotating the reels first in one direction and then in the opposite direction to wind the film from one reel to another and back again while the film is submerged in the developing or fixing bath as the case may be. Such apparatus, however, has not been universally satisfactory by reason of its structural complexity, costliness and the necessity for use of an expensive reversing electric motor. Then too, the reversing action in many of these devices is not positive in nature and it occasionally occurs that the film strip is reversed before the end of one reelingoperation is reached with the. result that the film is non-uniformly processed in the bath. For example, where a reversible motor is used, the apparatus is so arranged that when a certain degree of tension is exerted on the film, the motor automatically reverses. If, however, accidental tension of sufficient value is created during the winding operation, the motor accordingly reverses before the end of the winding operation resulting, of course, in non-uniform processing.

Accordingly, it is among the objects of this invention to provide a structurally simple, inexpensive, positive-acting reversible winder for strip film which overcomes the above-noted objections. Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In accordance with one form of my invention, an electric motor is pivotally mounted on a panel and has its armature connected through suitable reduction gearing to a drive gear which meshes with an idler or planetary carried by an arm or yoke freely mounted on the shaft of the drive gear. The idler is adapted to mesh with one or another of two gears respectively fastened to shafts which carry at their ends film reels so that as one of such shafts is rotated, film may be unwound from the reel of the other shaft to the reel on the driven shaft. To effect the reversing at the end of the winding operation, the idler gear climbs over the gear with which it is in mesh and it is carried over into mesh with the opposite reel gear by pivoting the motor about its mount, a spring being provided to return the motor to a central position after the gear'mesh has been changed.

One form of my invention is illustratively shown in the drawing, wherein,

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the device taken along the line l-| of Fig. 2.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device.

Figure 3 is a staggered section taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged horizontal section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout several views of the drawing.

Referring first to Fig. 1, my reversible strip film winder is generally indicated at l0, andm general comprises a fractional horsepower unidirectional electric motor I I, connected by means of a gear reductiongenerally indicated at l2, to a main drive gear l3. This gear I3 alternately drives one or the other of a pair of reel gears l4 and I 5 to rotate one or another of a pair of reels I6 and I! disposed within a tank l8 in such a manner as to directly expose all of the film held by the reel to the action of whatever solution is contained in the tank, all as will be described'in detail hereinafter. The film strip is thus wound from one reel to another and back again over and over again as long as is necessary to process As is more clearly shown in Fig. 3, the motor ll is attached to a pair of brackets l9, pivotally mounted on a post 20, fastened in any suitable manner to a panel or table 2|. This table is provided with a downwardly extending peripheral flange 22, adapted closely to fit the top edge of tank l8, so as to be in light-tight relation thereto when placed on the tank. A flat spring 23 has its lower end 2311 fastened to a boss 19a mounted on lower bracket IS, the upper end 23b of this spring lying within the yoke portion 24a of a collar 24, adjustably mounted on post 29 whereon it may be held in adjustment by a set screw 24?). Spring 23 accordingly biases motor II to a central position between reels l6 and I! as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

To the lower end of the armature shaft of the motor is fastened a pinion 25 which meshes with a gear 26 rotatably mounted on a stud shaft (not shown) carried by a downwardly extending boss 2! of the motor housing. Fastened to or integral with gear 26, is a pinion 28 which meshes with a gear 29 rotatably mounted on a shaft 30, the upper end of which is secured in any suitable manner in a boss 3| or the like, integral with or secured to the housing of motor I l By any suitable means gear 29 is connected to driving gear l3 also freely rotatable on shaft 30. It may now by the film end attached to reel I'I.

be seen that when motor II is energized, main driving gear I3 is rotated by the reduction train comprising pinion 25, gear 26, pinion 28 and gear 29.

Referring back to Figure l, shaft 36 has freely mounted thereon a pair of spaced arms 33 and 34 on opposite sides of main driving gear I3, the free ends of these arms rotatably supporting in any suitable manner an idler or planetary gear 35 which is in constant mesh with main driving gear I3. This gear 35 is adapted alternately to mesh with reel gears I4 and I5 in a manner to be described.

Reel gear I4 is fastened to the top of a shaft 36 as by a pin 31 extending through the gear hub Ila. Shaft 36 extends downwardly through a flanged collar 38 carried by'panel'2l andthrough the panel to a point adjacent the bottom of tank I8. The lower end of shaft 36 is suitably formed to detachably carry film reel I6, so that when the shaft is rotated, so also is the reel. Reel gear I5 is attached to the upper end of a shaft 39 which is identical in structure and mounting to shaft 33 so as detachably to support on its lower end film reel II. It may now be seen that if reel I! is loaded with film and the loose end of the film is attached to reel I6, the film'will be wound from reel H to reel I6 when gear 35 is in its Fig. l or Fig. 2 position.

When, however, all of the film has been wound from reel IT to reel I6, it being noted that the other end of the film is securely attached to reel I'I, idler or planetarygear 35 can no longer drive reel gear I4 as the gear is held against rotation Main driving gear I3, however, continues to rotate with the result that gear'35 (Fig. 2) climbs counterclockwise about reel gear I4 forcing motor I I and the reduction gearing ;I2 fastened thereto, clockwise about post 120 against until the planetary gear has climbed past a line extending through the axes of reel shaft 36and gear shaft 30. The gear 35 will continue to climb counter-clockwise around reel gear I4 until spring 23 has returned to the central position shown, at which time it will unmesh from reel gear I4 and be carried around shaft 30 together with arms 33 and 34 until it meshes with reel ear l5.

By referring to Fig. 4, the action of gear 35 climbing around reel gear I4 with the resulting deflection of spring 23, may be observed, the position of arms 33 and 34 and also gear 35 with respect to reel gear I5, being shown in dot-dash lines. Of course, when planetary gear with the other reel gear I5, it starts to drive this reel gear clockwise as viewed in Fig. 4, so that film F starts to wind on reel H from reel IS, the latter reel of course, now being freely rotatable. The tension of spring .23 may be adjusted by adjusting the position of collar 24 on post 20 to shorten or lengthen the effective length of the spring. The tension of this spring, however, is preferably so set that only the substantial film tension resulting from the film being completely unwound from one reel can overcome the tension of the spring to deflect it and permit the idler gear to climb over and unmesh from that one of the reel gears with which it was in mesh.

The relationship between planetary gear 35 andreel gear I5 (Fig. 4) is substantially the same as between the planetary gear and reel gear I4. In other words, when gear 35'is rotating counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 4, reel gear I5 is driven clockwise untilthe film F is completely wound the bias of spring 23 35 meshes thereon so that the empty reel I6 can no longer rotate. Under such condition, of course, the now full reel IT can no longer rotate and accordingly gear 35 starts to climb counter-clockwise as viewed in Fig. 4, around reel gear I5 forcing motor II and the attached reduction gearing to the right, to deflect spring 23, oppositely from the position shown in this figure. Planetary gear 35, of course, continues to climb around reel gear I5, until it is completely clear, i, e., out of mesh of the reel gear so that it can be carried around with arms 33 and 34 until it again meshes with reel gear I4.

From the above, it may now be seen that reel gears I4 and I5 and accordingly, their respective reels I6 and H, are always driven clockwise by gear 35 as viewed in Fig. 4. Thus, as the planetary gear shuttles from one reel gear to the other, the respective reels are driven so that the film strip in its entirety is passed back and forth between the reels with all portions of the strip accordingly being uniformly processed. In this connection, it might be well .to note that the tension of spring 23 can be of such a value as to be well in excess of any accidental tension that might occur during the passage of the film from one reel to another. It accordingly follows that the reversing action is positive in nature and can occur only when the film is completely unwound from oneof the reels.

Thus it may be seen that I have provided a re versible winder for strip film which attains the several objects set forth hereinabove in a thoroughly practical and efiicient manner.

I claim:

1. In a reversible winder for strip film, the combination of, a pair of reels adapted to have fastened respectively thereto the opposite ends of a film strip, means rotatably mounting said reels in spaced relation whereby the film strip may be wound from one reel to the other and back again. a pair of elements attached respectively to said reels and. adapted to be alternately driven to rotate saidreels, unidirectional driving means, means resiliently mounting said driving means, a rotatable element constantly driven by said driving means, andmeans mounting said rotatable element for movement into driving relation with one or the other of said reel .rotating elements in response to tension of the film strip.

2. In a reversible winder for strip film, the combination of, a pair of reels adapted to have fastened respectively thereto the opposite ends of a film strip, means rotatably mounting said reels in spaced relation whereby the film strip may be wound from one reel to the other and back again, a pair of gears attached respectively to said reels and adapted to be alternately driven torotate said reels, unidirectional driving means including a driving gear, means resiliently mounting said driving means, a planetary gear in constant mesh with said driving gear, means mounting said planetary gear for movement into mesh with one or the other of said reel gears, and means responsive to tension of the film strip for moving said planetary gear out of mesh with one of said reel gears and into mesh with the other of said reel gears.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the drivingmeans includes an electric motor, means mountingsaid motor for bodily movement relative to said reel gears, and spring means tending to hold said motor on a line midway of said reel gears.

4. In a reversible winder for strip film, the

combination of a base, a pair of film reels rotatably mounted on said base, a drive gear attached to each of said reels, driving means including a shaft and a driving gear mounted on said shaft, means resiliently mounting said driving means for lateral bodily movement relative to said reels, and a planetary gear assembly comprising a planetary gear and at least one arm rotatably connected to said shaft and supporting said planetary gear in constant mesh with said driving gear, said planetary gear meshing alternately with said reel drive gears to rotate them and accordingly said reels alternately in the same direction, whereby when that one of said reel gears in mesh with said planetary gear is constrained against rotation, said planetary gear climbs around said constrained reel gear and causes said driving means to move relative to said constrained gear until said planetary gear and said constrained gear become unmeshed, whereafter said planetary gear travels around said driving gear until it meshes with the other reel gear.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said base has a post secured thereto on which the driving means is pivotally mounted, and spring means are provided tending to maintain said driving means on a line midway of said reel gears.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the driving means comprises a unidirectional electric motor, and reduction gearing by which said driving gear is driven.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the base comprises a fiat plate having a downwardly depending peripheral flange adapted to fit about the rim of a film processing tank, the film reels also depending downwardly of the base plate so as to be disposed within said tank.

8. In apparatus of the character described wherein a strip to be processed is carried in coils on a pair of juxtaposed reels each mounted on a shaft with one end of the strip fixed to one reel and the other end fixed to the other and wherein during processing the strip alternately and repeatedly is unwound from one reel and wound onto the other and then reverses direction and unwinds from the other and rewinds on the one, the combination including: a pair of reel gears arranged one in driving relationship with the shaft of one reel and the other in driving relationship with the shaft of the other reel, a reel gear pinion, a pinion arm on one end of which the pinion is rotatably carried, a drive assembly on which the other end of the arm is mounted for rotation through 350 about an axis of arm rotation, a drive gear coaxially disposed for rotation about the arm axis and in driving relationship with the pinion, and a yieldable mounting construction supporting the drive assembly and normally holding the assembly equidistant from each or the reel gears, wherein the distance from said axis of arm rotation to one of the reel gears is slightly less than the distance from said axis to the center of the reel gear pinion plus the pitch radius of the reel gear pinion, and wherein the distance from said axis of arm rotation to one of the reel gears plus the distance of yieldable movement of said yieldable mounting construction is greater than the distance from said axis to the center of the reel gear pinion plus the pitch radius of the reel gear pinion.

HALE G. SMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 773,985' Ries Nov. 1, 1904 1,691,414 Thornton Nov. 13, 1928 1,969,823 Smith Aug. 14, 1934 2,168,846 Parker Aug. 8, 1939 

